News

Illness hits family after two weeks without heating

January 31, 2013

A freezing family is battling chest infections and coughs after being left in the cold for more than two weeks.

As temperatures plummeted outside and snow engulfed the borough, the Duffy family from Rainbow Park in Winnersh have been living without any heating or hot water.

Mum Patricia, 40 said: “It’s crazy. They’ve just not been interested. It’s felt as cold in here as it is outside. The kids have been freezing.”

She has pressed Sanctuary Housing daily, but was given just two small blow heaters for the three-bedroom house for 10 days which she claims caused her family to fall ill.

They are hoping a delayed delivery of a new pump for the boiler will come today, bringing an end to their misery.

Husband Mark, 39, and two-year-old Roman-Jack have been struck with chest infections, while four-year-old Niamh and seven-year-old Keane have missed days at Bearwood Primary School because of illness.

At night the family have been squeezing into one bed next to an oil-filled radiator loaned to them, with son Brendon, 15, sleeping on the floor.

“It’s the only room we can keep warm,” Mrs Duffy explained.

“The blow heaters made no difference at all – they’re just wasting money. They use electric like you wouldn’t believe. We might as well feed £50 notes to the hamster.”

But after The Wokingham Times contacted Sanctuary Housing four more heaters were given to the family on Friday.

Richard Keeley, local head of housing operations for Sanctuary Housing, said: “The family first reported problems with their heating on January 13, and an engineer attempted to visit on January 14, but was unable to gain access.

“On Thursday, January 17, we were able to make repairs. The heating system was working when the engineer left, but unfortunately a couple of days later a pump failed and needed to be replaced.

“The recent weather has affected workloads and made it difficult to make further repairs, but we are working to fix the system as soon as possible.”

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PoneRana - I just have a light duvet to use both winter and summer, or I have bad circulation ;)

graywok - This is what always does irritate me (not your comment, but the point you make which I agree with). People often talk about (moderately) high earners being able to afford benefit X and benefit Y being revoked (e.g. child benefits), or not getting it in the first place. Unless you're an ultra high earner, it's simply not true when you do not get an ounce of help from the government and have to pay for everything yourself (and with private housing costs being so dear). I've tried to save for the past year, in the hope that I would be able to afford to go away (I haven't been able to afford a holiday for over 5 years, not even a UK-based short trip). Now all of this money I've saved needs to go towards getting this fixed. Yes it would probably have been wise to get insurance of some kind, but even that is a chunk out of monthly income. I'd love to go to the gym but again it's a chunk out of salary I can't really afford right now, but I see the price list with huge subsidies for those receiving some form of benefits. These things do add up.

So in summary yes the family shouldn't be left in the cold, but so are alot of people. And those worst off are actually those who actually have to arrange and pay for the repairs themselves, so this family are in a significantly better state than most.

alex_f, Wokingham
03/02/2013 at 23:39

alex_f

I find that with a heavy duvet I don't need the extra clothing that you need.

PoneRana, Wokingham
03/02/2013 at 12:22

Its fortunate they are in a Housing association subsidised property. Imagine the uproar if the family had to fork out to pay for their own repairs / replacement as the majority of full paying families who own their own homes.

graywok, Woosehill
02/02/2013 at 10:26

Good neighbours

well, well, well
02/02/2013 at 10:17

Why is this news worthy?

It happens to hundreds if not thousands of people every year.

K Huffmum
01/02/2013 at 17:32

The family have my every sympathy, but viruses - not cold - cause infections.

Genial Harry Grout, Fleet
01/02/2013 at 16:05

Hi Kevin.

I'm sure you noticed already, but that statement:

"we aim to be with you within 24 hours. If we cannot get to you in these timescales, we will do our best to be with you as soon as possible after this."

...means 'we'll turn up when we like'.

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
01/02/2013 at 14:34

Sounds like mixed messages and bad communication all round. I have had tradespeople just turn up, so I guess a question is whether they knew the engineer was coming on the 14th. It probably wouldn't have avoided the pump failing, but if they really wanted it fixed they should have been asking exactly when the engineer was coming and making sure they were at home when they were due to arrive.

I appreciate that it was cold a few weeks ago, but it has been quite mild of late, so it shouldn't be so bad at the moment. Although the situation isn't ideal, it sounds a bit like the similar issue yesterday where the provider doesn't seem to have been that unreasonable and the householders are running to the press a bit too quickly. Every day seems to be a 'my heating has broken' shocker at the moment! My heating broke last year, but I didn't find it newsworthy!

Smiffy, Reading
01/02/2013 at 14:32

No guarantee, however having been through this, as soon as you mention you have a 2 year old, chances are that you'll receive priority. British Gas website states:

'Q My boiler is broken and I have no heating or hot water. How quickly will the engineer get to me? A If you have no heating or hot water and you let us know before 1pm, we aim to be with you the same day. If you call after this time, we aim to be with you within 24 hours. If we cannot get to you in these timescales, we will do our best to be with you as soon as possible after this.'

Kevin Baker
01/02/2013 at 13:52

PoneRana - agree with you. For the past 3 weeks I have not slept with the heating on (both for fear of something going wrong whilst asleep but also the costs of leaving it on for 8 hours), but left a jumper, thick socks and tracksuit bottoms on.

alex_f, Wokingham
01/02/2013 at 13:47

Hi Kevin - I may be wrong (probably), but I haven't seen any guaranteed 24 hour services when I was looking around, including the big providers.

alex_f, Wokingham
01/02/2013 at 13:44

I can understand small children needing to sleep in a heated room but for adults it is completely unnecessary unless they are sick. Provided they have reasonable bedclothes adults should not need a heated bedroom in this country.

PoneRana, Wokingham
01/02/2013 at 13:42

Again, I'm guessing here.... but isn't that what Heating Insurance is for?..... The service to have someone fix a simple fault within 24/48 hours. If (and they're tennants so don't have this option) you're self-insuring and planning to contract a repair firm when things do go wrong with your heating, I would expect a delay due to the increased number of boiler failures caused by the weather. What I'm getting at is someone (Sanctuary Housing?) paid a premium to ensure a minimum break of service yet it's left the family without heat for a couple of weeks.